People like to rag on downloadable content. It's a boondoggle, detractors
say. A crass way to get extra cash for a chunk of a game that should've just
been included on the disk. That's true in many cases. But Assassin's Creed IV: Freedom Cry is the better brand of add-on, one
where developers' experimentation with the tools they've already made results
in a different take on a formula that already exists.

Out today, the new chapter of ACIV focuses on Adewale, Edward Kenway's first mate in the main
story of the game. Freedom Cry
happens several years after the end of ACIV
and Adewale is now an Assassin in charge of his own ship.

You'll get more of the naval combat that's become the crown
jewel in the most recent Assassin's Creed
games. Freedom Cry opens up with
a tense battle against bigger, more numerous ships, eventually putting you on
land where you'll get to use new weapons unique to Adewale. Once on land, the
former slave gets a machete and blunderbuss (pretty much a shotgun) as part of
his special set of instruments. Both weapons feel more blunt than the cutlasses
or pistols that Edward uses. On the stealth side,
he can use firecrackers as a distraction to lure enemies to or from him.

A sidekick in the main storyline of Assassin's Creed IV, Adewale commands the center stage here. Though
the trappings are the same—colonial Caribbean open-world environs, sidequests
that open up rewards and resources and a mix of stealth, ranged and
close-quarters combat—the directives are very different. You're trying to foment a rebellion, so instead of helping pirates fight imperial soldiers,
you're liberating slaves to become recruits. The plantation locations represent
a trickier challenge for players. Failure to maintain stealth while raiding a
plantation means that overseers start killing slaves, meaning you get less
manpower for your overaching mission. It's a harsh penalty for not sticking to
a core gameplay tenet but one that works both thematically and inside the game.

All those islands in the Caribbean that are plush vacation spots now? They used to be colonies,…
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Slave ships represent a similar tweak. While you can engage such
vessels and their escorts in combat as you would other seacraft, sinking a
crippled slave ship means its human cargo never joins Adewale's cause. If you finished the main campaign of ACIV, you may find yourself having to
fight certain reflexes while playing this DLC chapter. That shift feels like a clever
thing here.

Freedom Cry, which costs $10, is supposed to offer anywhere
from 90 minutes to three hours of new gameplay, which will vary depending on
how fully you decide to play through it. But, given how different it feels from
Edward's adventure, Freedom Cry justifies
its existence. Yes, you'll have to pay extra but the experience of playing as
Adewale is worth it.